Darren Adam Heitner, Esq. is the Founder of HEITNER LEGAL, Founder/CEO of Dynasty Dealings, LLC, Professor of Sports Law at the University of Florida and University of Florida Levin College of Law and Founder/Chief Editor of Sports Agent Blog, a leading niche industry publication. He is an attorney licensed to practice on the state and federal level, and focuses on sports, entertainment, and intellectual property litigation and transactional work.
Darren is the author of How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know (published by the American Bar Association), Contributing Writer of An Athlete’s Guide to Agents, 5th Edition, and has authored many sports, entertainment and intellectual property-related Law Journal articles.
Darren has a Bachelors of Arts from the University of Florida and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from the same institution.

Super Bowl Prop Bets That Provide Plenty Of Entertainment

Money will change hands depending on the way Beyoncé styled her hair when she steps on stage during the Pepsi Super Bowl XLVII Halftime Show at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Everyone has heard of the “prop bet” (short for proposition bet), which is a bet made based on an event occurring (or not occurring) during a sporting event that either has no direct effect or a very loose tie to the outcome of the game. Prop bets have grown in interest and number with the proliferation of Internet sportsbooks and those who create the betting options always seem to provide items of novelty.

For instance, on Internet sportsbook Heritage Sports, a user can not only place a wager on how many total seconds it will take for Alicia Keys to sing the Star Spangled Banner (from when first note is started until final note is completed), but can also put money down on whether Keys will forget or omit one or more words of America’s official national anthem.

However, when it comes to entertainment, this Super Bowl is not only about Alicia Keys. In fact, Heritage Sports also allows individuals to bet on whether Beyoncé’s hair will curled, waved or crimped at the start of the Pepsi Super Bowl XLVII Halftime Show and if her husband Jay-Z will join her on stage at any time during her performance. The odds indicate that it is more likely than not that the American rapper and entrepreneur, Jay-Z, will jump on stage and that Beyoncé’s will not come out with her hair straight.

Meanwhile SportsBetting.ag has a list of “Super Bowl Exotics” prop bets. There are extremely subjective and somewhat risqué items such as, will Beyoncé be showing cleavage during her first song and the outside-of-the-box query, “Frank Gore – outscore his Wonderlic score – 6pts?” The oddsmakers appear to not have too much confidence that Gore will best his abysmal Wonderlic score that he logged prior to being selected in third round of the 2005 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers.

A favorite prop bet could be trying to guess which round the eventual Super Bowl MVP was drafted in. Five out of the last six Super Bowl MVPs were quarterbacks, including the past three years (2012 – Eli Manning; 2011 – Aaron Rodgers; 2010 – Drew Brees). Quarterback Joe Flacco of the Baltimore Ravens was selected by the Ravens with the #18 overall pick in the first round of the 2008 NFL Draft. If Flacco is named MVP, it will produce the lowest payout offered through SportsBetting.ag’s prop bet. If 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick wins MVP honors, the payout will only be marginally higher; a second round NFL Draft pick currently pays out at +120. However, if the aforementioned Frank Gore blows away his Wonderlic result in points scored and earns himself an MVP trophy, he could produce a large payout. A third round draft pick winning MVP has a line of +650. History is not in Gore’s favor. The last running back to win Super Bowl MVP was Terrell Davis in 1998.

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